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Pilot Project for Expanding the Adversarial System in San Francisco- Córdoba Province-Argentina

On December 7, 2008, an agreement was signed between the Córdoba Judicial Branch and the Ministry of Justice of the Executive Branch, the Justice Studies Center of the Americas (JSCA) and the Institute for Comparative Studies in the Criminal and Social Sciences (INECIP) regarding the adoption of an agreement on the implementation of the Criminal Procedure Reform in the Córdoba Province. The Province’s Association of Judges and Judicial Officials, Bar Association and sections “A,” “B” and “C” of the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba School of Law and Social Sciences signed the agreement. All of the actors in the system agreed that there was a need to expand the adversarial system, which was the paradigm of the Criminal Procedure Reform of 1992. They also identified a need to implement and increase the level of dynamism of legislative innovations linked to celerity, deformalization and the abbreviation of the preparatory criminal investigation process.

The participants in the process made it clear that some situations that could be modified through improvements in the judicial office management model, a more dynamic approach to alternative outcomes and the use of oral hearings during pre-trial stages. It was also noted that there was a need to train operators in litigation techniques for oral hearings in the context of the objectives of introducing oral procedures at the pre-trial stages and in function of the litigation needs of jury trials, which our system uses in cases involving especially serious crimes.

In the context of the implementation of the agreement, an inter-institutional team was created to study and design the steps to be taken to implement a pilot project that meets the objectives set out by the criminal procedure reform. Training sessions were

organized at the Córdoba Judicial Academy with the support of JSCA, during which operators were made aware of the need to make operational changes to the investigation process and the decisions that are made during this stage.

At the request of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and with the support of the institutions mentioned above, the Superior Court issued Regulatory Agreement 1010 on 22 June 2010, creating a Prosecutor’s Office and a paradigm shift in the management model. The court also authorized the Public Prosecutor’s Office to launch the pilot project in the Judicial Center of San Francisco in the Fifth Judicial Sector of Córdoba Province.

This change has resulted in the introduction of a new management approach for the prosecutor’s office. Rather than mirroring the Judicial Branch, the entity will adapt its management to the new challenges that it is to face. The goal is for prosecution units to successfully handle increasingly numerous sets of criminal cases with varying levels of complexity and for them to provide varied responses to them while optimizing the use of human and material resources.

In function of that new novel, a single work unit was created: the Prosecutor’s Office, which is staffed by all investigative and chamber prosecutors as well as secretaries and assistants. The employee division has been eliminated, and the staff is distributed by management area within the Prosecutor’s Office. Three clearly differentiated areas have been created: a) the immediate services area; b) the in flagrante and execution case area; and c) the complex case investigation area.

There are two key areas for the plan’s successful implementation:

1. The Immediate Services Area, which represents the public’s first point of contact with the Prosecutor’s Office. This area selects and distributes cases to the various areas and processes all communiqués regarding cases initiated in the Judicial Unit or Jurisdictional Centers. It is responsible for providing an early solution and applying alternative dispute resolution to cases in which there has not been an in flagrante arrest or detention. In other cases, it is to oversee and substantiate the criminal investigation results as long as the case does not require special treatment. Finally, the unit manages a mechanism for systematizing information on cases.
2. The Hearing Management and Statistical Data Unit: This unit is responsible for setting the timeline or calendar for hearings and scheduling them. It also will provide sufficient and appropriate resources so that the deadlines established as goals for the plan (or law) are met. This means that the judge, parties, other related individuals and third parties who attend are present for the investigation stage events (hearing for oversight of the arrest, pre-trial detention, initial abbreviated trial, provisional suspension of the trial or objections to the charges laid) appear at the appointed time and place. This unit also is responsible for managing and reviewing the provision of all of the material and technological elements necessary for the appropriate procedures in the hearing room and for procuring the support required so that all of said procedures are taped. In operational and statistical terms, it is responsible for systematizing the results of each act, providing audio material from the hearing to the parties and managing a file generated and stored in accordance with the appropriate security protocol.

System operators look to generate new practices and routines through a deformalized and oral procedure in order to achieve rapid treatment of cases through the design and implementation of this plan. The goal is to provide responses that match the complexity of the case, whether the perpetrator was caught committing the crime or partially so, or whether the crime requires more investigation. An effort will be made to oversee the legality of detention in all cases, respecting the rights of the defendant and guarantees of due process and thus complying with the Inter-American Convention on Human Rights.

The inter-institutional commitment made by all of Córdoba’s criminal justice system actors with the assistance, support and training of JSCA is not limited to the implementation of the San Francisco Pilot Project. Beginning September 27, an effort to replicate the experience throughout Córdoba Province will begin in its capital city with the clear goal of providing quick, high-quality responses to the people.

* JSCA training staff member.

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